Berlin teen admits fabricating migrant gang-rape story, official says

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

On a freezing cold morning, with temperatures below zero Celsius, large groups of refugees were coming to Serbia from the direction of Macedonia and Greece. A train leaving from Gevgelija, Macedonia, brought them close to the border crossing, from where they have to walk additional 5 kilometers (3 miles) to reach a registration camp near the village of Miratovac in Serbia. Pictured here, a man named Asim tries to protect his daughter from the cold on the road from the registration center. They traveled for seven days from Turkey to get to this point.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Syrian woman Sadia was forced to leave her home two years ago and has been traveling with her family since then. She's disabled, so she has a lot of trouble traveling, but her courage and will are unshakable. Her dream is to go to Germany to live her old years in peace, watching her grandchildren grow up.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

One of Sadia's family members pushes her wheelchair down a road.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Very cold weather in the Balkans did not stop the refugees, although they don't come in such great numbers, compared with the summer of last year.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Two men from Syria walk in dense fog along a path connecting a registration center with the town of Miratovac. Because of bad weather and muddy roads, buses were waiting for them 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from there. They were taking them to the Croatian border.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Ayra from Aleppo, Syria, started her journey two years ago, when she was forced to flee to Turkey. She is traveling with her daughter Abdusehta.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

A young boy cries near the Miratovac refugee camp after arriving from Macedonia on a very cold winter morning.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Thousands of people have passed along this route dotted by calm, beautiful scenery since last year. The number of refugees has decreased in recent months, but it's still thousands per day.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Miratovac's routine was disrupted months ago when refugees began using this route. Today, it is an ordinary sight to see a tractor pass by refugees waiting to board buses.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

A boy looks out a van window as he and other refugees and their children prepare to leave for a nearby station where they will take a train toward Croatia.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

A camp in Presevo, Serbia, is a large one-stop center where refugees are registered. They also get papers so they can travel through the country, medical and psychological support, food, and other goods and information. Some, such as families that aren't in a hurry, sleep there; other refugees stop for registration and a short rest.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

A young woman is escorted to a doctor in the refugee camp in Presevo, Serbia.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

A doctor puts drops in the infected ears of a boy named Farid while volunteers of the ADRA organization distract him at a refugee center in Presevo.

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Photos:Migrants head to Europe in the cold

Hussein and his family, from Iraq, board a train in Presevo that will take them to Croatia. They fled because, Hussein says, he feels there is no love in his home country anymore. He hopes to find love in Germany, where he is headed.

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Story highlights

Claims that a 13-year-old was raped by migrants sparked outrage in Germany

But the girl admitted making up the story

She was staying with a German man during her absence, prosecutors say

Berlin (CNN)A Berlin teen who claimed to have been abducted and gang-raped by migrants, sparking angry protests and an international row with Russia, has admitted making up the story and was found to have been staying with a German man instead, an official said Monday.

The 13-year-old girl -- a member of Berlin's Russian-speaking community -- made the rape claim to police when she returned after a 30-hour absence last month. She alleged that three men of Arabic and Turkish descent had dragged her into a car at a train station and abused her.

Stories of the girl's ordeal circulated in Russian media and on social networks, prompting street demonstrations by Russian-German communities and right-wing groups.

More than 900 people reported being attacked by North African or Arab men during festivities in Cologne, with 523 of them reporting having been sexually assaulted. Similar attacks were reported in other German cities.

CNN's Nadine Schmidt reported from Berlin and Tim Hume reported and wrote from London.